


damage from the inside

by deepestfathoms



Category: The Prom (2020), The Prom - Sklar/Beguelin/Martin
Genre: Animal Attack, Blood and Injury, Caretaking, F/F, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-24
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 13:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29684430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deepestfathoms/pseuds/deepestfathoms
Summary: 5 times Winnie helped her friends when they were hurt and the 1 time they helped her.(Kaylee- Dislocation; Shelby- Burst eardrum; Kevin- Animal attack; Alyssa- Laceration; Emma- Assault)
Relationships: Alyssa Greene/Emma Nolan
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	damage from the inside

** 1 **

**Kaylee**

Fifteen minutes before a cheer competition began, a shriek of pain suddenly exploded throughout the locker room.

Kaylee realized it was herself.

“What’s going on?! What happened?!” The assistant manager squawked, flapping over. She was a shrewd junior girl who always wanted to take Winnie’s job from her and utterly despised her simply because of her rich parents. “WHAT IS WRONG WITH HER?!”

“I don’t know!” Natalie cried. “She fell and--”

“Oh god--” Carrie said in a gag. “That is bad.”

“Kinda cool,” Commented Hayden, earning her an elbow to the ribs from Linda. “Ouch! Unnecessary!”

“This is a catastrophe,” Jess muttered to the far left.

“ _ Help me! _ ” Kaylee yelled, a bite in her voice.

She was lying at the bottom of one of the benches inside of the locker room, sprawled in a position that was extremely uncomfortable. But not as uncomfortable as the angle her right arm was bent into. 

“Fuck!” Cried the assistant manager. “What happened?!”

“I think she fell,” Observed Alyssa calmly.

Kaylee groaned as if to prove that theory.

“Oh, you bumbling idiot!” The assistant manager snapped at her.

“Hey!” Winnie barked, pushing her feeble, weak self through the crowd like a little lobster seeking attention. “Don’t be mean! It’s not her fault!”

Everyone looked at her in surprise, including Kaylee, who halted her process of squirming miserably to blink up at her. Wasn’t Winnie supposed to have anxiety and be afraid of talking back to people? 

“It definitely is her fault,” The assistant manager hissed. “Or is it yours?” She narrowed her dark amber eyes at Winnie. “Did YOU do this?”

“No, I didn’t!” Winnie said, wounded. “I don’t hurt people!”

“Yeah, I can vouch for her, Rachel,” Alyssa spoke up. “She wasn’t anywhere near Kaylee when she fell.”

Rachel gave Winnie a suspicious look, not really believing Alyssa’s words. “Well,” She dropped the accusations for the moment. “What do we do?”

“Call 991,” Alyssa said.

“No!” Rachel yelped. “We can’t! We need her for the routine!”

“So you expect her to perform while she’s hurt?” Alyssa struck back. “Look at her! She can’t even sit up!”

“Yeah, asshole,” Kaylee shot Rachel a look. “Not everything revolves around fucking cheer. My arm is fucking BROKEN!!”

“It’s not broken, actually,” Winnie piped back up. “It’s dislocated.”

All eyes turned to her again. She quickly went on, pointing at Kaylee’s injured arm, “Look at the way she’s moving. Her arm should be moving like that, too, but it isn’t even twitching. Plus, it’s not swollen and bruising. And listen to her screams--she’s in a lot of pain. Broken bones burn, but they wouldn’t cause that much distress.” She looked around at all of them, then said again, “It’s dislocated. And I know how to fix it.”

Kaylee felt ill at the thought of Winnie--the clumsy, anxious, timid, kinda annoying Little Orphan Annie--touching her, and it must have shown on her face, too, because Winnie gave her an injured expression. Kaylee would have shrugged at her if she could move her arm.

Everyone else noisily began to get suspicious and skeptical of her information. 

“How do you know that?” Asked Jess.

“I’ve had my arm broken and dislocated before,” Winnie answered. “And I was able to help myself. I know what to do.”

“Why should we trust you?” Said Jules warily, eyeing Winnie as if she thought she was going to rip Kaylee’s arm off and beat her with it. “You’re scared of your own shadow.”

“I am not!” Winnie blustered. “And what other choice do you have? Unless you’d like to go on without the right amount of cheerleaders.”

Somehow, to all of them, that alternative seemed even worse than Winnie tearing off one of Kaylee’s limbs and pummeling her with it. When Kaylee realized this, she wasn’t very happy about it and made sure to show it on her face.

“You’re right,” Natalie said. “We should probably trust her.”

“What?” Kaylee said sharply. “Are you alright?”

“Of course,” Natalie said, giving Kaylee a weird look. She tipped her head towards Winnie. “We should let her try.”

“Thank you,” Winnie said, then crouched down next to Kaylee. Kaylee tried to wiggle away from her.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” The ginger whispered to her, and Kaylee felt about as reassured as she would if it were a crab holding a knife to her throat talking to her.

Actually, she would trust the crab more…

But she really did have no other choice, so Kaylee sighed softly and stopped moving. 

“Thank you.” Winnie said, then paused. “Okay, well--slight change to what I said. This WILL hurt, but it’ll make you better, I promise.” 

Kaylee went even paler but just nodded again. Winnie thanked her again, then gently took hold of her arm. It was like a needy lobster was clinging onto her with her claws.

_ What are you doing?  _ Kaylee thought at Winnie.  _ You’re the problem, not the solution. _

And then Winnie pushed upwards and strings of fire shot through Kaylee’s arm. She let out a yelp of shock and pain, jerked, and then stopped. Winnie pulled her hands back quickly so she could see her normal-looking shoulder. She tried to move it, wincing when it bent at her muscles’ command, then gave Winnie a look of surprise. Winnie smiled at her.

“All done!” Winnie beamed, then turned her head to the crowd around her. “See? I did it!”

She got several appraising and approved looks, and Kaylee just  _ knew _ she was struggling to not happy dance. 

“It’s probably gonna hurt for a few weeks,” Winnie said to Kaylee. “Definitely take painkillers before the competition, and don’t do anything crazy with it if you don’t have to.”

Kaylee nodded. “Thank you, Winnie.” She said.

Wow. She never thought she’d ever say  _ that _ .

* * *

**2**

**Shelby**

It sounded, in a way, like a balloon popping.

But if that balloon were inside of Shelby’s head.

“Ow! Shit!” She yelped, clapping a hand to her left ear which, in hindsight, was not the smartest idea given that that was where the pain was coming from.

The cheer routine she and the others were going over fell away and everyone turned to look at her, confused and curious. The blaring music shut off, slightly lessening the throbbing in Shelby’s skull.

“Is everything alright, Shelby?” The coach asked.

“Uhh--” Shelby swallowed. “I don’t know?” She felt something wet mat against her hair, and it must have been visible because Kaylee gave her a sickened look and backed away. She must have thought it was blood--but how could a girl be afraid of the sight of blood? Did Kaylee just pass out every time she had her period?

“What happened?” Alyssa asked.

“My ear--” Shelby winced. She was starting to rub around her ear, as if she thought the touch would comfort her, but it clearly wasn’t working the magic she thought it would because it still hurt tremendously.

“Woah,” Hayden suddenly piped up. “What’s that on your  _ face _ ?”

Shelby pulled her hand back slowly, and the white-yellow fluid coating one side of her head was revealed. The interior was completely coated in a thick amalgam of water, blood, and something that looked like pus, and the hole seemed to be clogged by the same concoction, although that looked a lot more  _ red _ . It was weeping the foul-smelling liquid; Kaylee gagged loudly, but Shelby didn’t know if it was because of the sight, the smell, or both. 

The fluids were dripping all the way down her jawline and onto her chest and shoulders. The droplets disappeared against the material of her cheer uniform.

“Ew,” Natalie wrinkled her nose.

“What happened?” Hayden asked, incredibly curious. She was looking at the residue as if it were liquid gemstones.

“I had an ear infection,” Shelby explained, and each of her words were punctuated with a wince. “I took pain killers, but--well, they didn’t really help.” 

“Your eardrum burst,” Winnie said, padding over.

“Uh oh,” Jules rolled her eyes. “The know-it-all is here.”

Winnie glared at her, but she looked about as fierce as a baby red fox that just got its berries stolen by its older fox sibling.

“I’m not a know-it-all!” Winnie growled, sounding for all the world like a kit throwing a temper tantrum. “I just know things!”

“What do you think a know-it-all is, Firecracker?” Jules said.

“Shut up!” Winnie squeaked, her voice pitching as her face inflamed to an impressive shade of red. “ANYWAY. Her eardrum burst!”

Shelby grimaced and the fluids suddenly looked a lot darker. Or maybe that was just because of the increased sputtering of blood that was coming out.

“Yikes,” Carrie winced. “That looks painful.” 

“It is,” Shelby confirmed.

To her left, Alyssa tentatively touched her ear, as if she thought that her eardrum may randomly burst and put her through the same pain that Shelby was going through. 

“What do we do?” Coach asked, waving her head around to everyone.

“Well, if I remember correctly,” Winnie said in her infamous know-it-all voice.

“Oh, here we go,” Jules muttered.

Winnie shot her another glare that was somehow even less threatening than the last one, then went on, “Burst eardrums usually heal on their own.”

There was a collective sigh of relief--and then Winnie started talking again.

“However, sometimes surgery is needed. I’ve heard of cauterizing being used as a form of treatment, too.”

Shelby’s jaw fell open at the thought of the inside of her ear being melted shut. If Winnie noticed, she didn’t relent with her fact-stating.

“And hearing loss is sometimes possible. Which doesn’t seem to be a very good th--”

“Thank you, Winnie!” Alyssa said loudly, batting the redhead away. 

“I don’t want to get my ear cauterized!” Shelby yelped. “O-or go deaf!”

“You’ll probably be  _ fine _ ,” Winnie said, piping back up despite Alyssa’s attempts to make her go away. “You’ll heal on your own, don’t worry! There’s no need to go to the hospital. You’d be wasting your money. The most they’ll do is give you an eardrum patch, if that. As long as it doesn’t get infected, you’ll be okay!”

“And  _ how  _ do I keep it from getting infected?” Shelby asked.

Winnie looked excited to be able to share her knowledge. “Keep the ear dry! Use an earplug or cotton ball when you’re showering.”

“But…won’t that hurt when I put it in?”

“Better than an infection,” Winnie shrugged. “And cauterization. Also don’t blow your nose!”

Shelby shifted, wincing again when her head moved. “Got it. Thanks, Winnie.”

Winnie perked up when she simply said her name, and Shelby couldn’t tell if it was pathetic or not. 

“No problem!” Winnie said excitedly. “If you ever need help, you can just ask me!”

“Know-it-all,” Jules whispered.

“Shut up!!”

* * *

** 3 **

**Kevin**

It was a growl that halted Kevin and Winnie’s conversation about a gross casting choice in a movie. 

They were at an old skatepark, half obscured by overgrown plants, and there was a growl from the towering shrubbery.

It had been Kevin’s idea to go there in the first place. He wanted to learn how to skateboard to impress Shelby with his Rad New Skill, but didn’t want to embarrass himself in front of other skaters, so he scoped out an old park that was deserted after the new one was built. However, there was something eerie about abandoned locations, even skateparks in broad daylight, so he invited the local ginger as company.

In hindsight, maybe having Indiana’s biggest scaredy cat be his backup wasn’t his best idea. Nor was going to abandoned places.

He wondered, for a moment, if it was the wild dogs that caused the skatepark to move locations. 

“Wait, so WHAT happened?”

“They made a 19 year old and a 15 year old kiss!”

“Ew! Really?”

“Yes! I mean, they cut it out, thank god, but it’s still so gross. Also Ansel Elgort is a pedophile, so it makes it even worse.”

“It really was a different time back then.”

“This was in 2013!!”

“OH!”

And that was when the growl happened.

Kevin and Winnie both froze instantly. They blinked at each other for a moment, then turned their heads to the nearby shrubbery. 

Kevin swore he saw yellow eyes glowing from inside the underbrush.

“You heard that, too, right?” Kevin whispered to Winnie.

“Yeah,” Winnie whispered back. She looked like a red deer in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen-wheeler.

“Follow up question: you know a lot of things. What do you do when confronted with a potentially aggressive wild dog?”

“Umm, don’t make eye contact? I think?”

“Well, too late for that. What else?”

“Uhh, umm-- here’s the thing--”

“Time sensitive question, Winnie! Please respond.”

“I’m afraid of dogs.” 

Kevin’s head snapped to her. “You’re joking.”

“I am absolutely not,” Winnie said, quaking. She had yet to pull her eyes away from the bushes. 

“How are you afraid of  _ dogs _ ? They're so cute! And don’t you own one?”

“ _ I  _ do not own it,  _ my family  _ does. And its presence only strengthens my fear. I hate dogs, Kevin.”

“Okay, okay-- don’t panic.”

“Too late.”

There was another growl. Winnie, to her credit, didn’t flinch, but she looked about ready to burst into tears.

“Get behind me.” Kevin said.

“What?”

“Get behind me. I won’t let it hurt you.”

“Awww, thanks. But here’s the other thing-- I can’t move.”

Kevin hissed underneath his breath. He gripped his skateboard tightly in his hands, ready to use it like a mace.

“Okay, ahh-- we’re going to back away slowly, alright? Try to move. Come on.”

This plan worked for about two seconds and then a car horn went off somewhere in the distance and ruined the whole plan for them.

The dog--some kind of red-brown mutt--came at Kevin like a burst of lightning. He didn’t even have time to use his skateboard as a weapon like he was planning before powerful jaws were clamped on his arm. A high-pitched scream of pain surfaced in his throat, but he couldn’t even be embarrassed over it because the world was thrown sideways and the dog was dragging him to the ground.

“FUCK!” Kevin yelled, struggling against the dog. Its eyes were wide and manic as it stared him down, his blood dripping from its wet maw. “Shit! Winnie! Run!!”

He couldn’t see the redhead, so he assumed that she had already taken off. Not that he blamed her. Seeing this would only spur her fear of dogs.

Now Kevin understood why she was so scared of them.

Kevin squirmed beneath the dog. The pain was bright and unbearable- he knew dog bites hurt but,  _ fuck _ , this felt like his arm was being ripped right out of its socket!

Wait--

Was that possible?

“Get off of me!” Kevin yelled, which probably wasn’t the best idea. Loud noises would only make the dog even more threatened, but he couldn’t help himself! He was in pain! “Let go, you bitch! OW!!”

The dog snarled viciously in response, and Kevin thought for sure this was how he was going to die, mauled to death by a pooch because he went to a skatepark to learn how to skateboard to impress a girl, but then Winnie was there, wielding a stick like it was the legendary sword Excalibur, and clocked the dog in the back of the head.

The dog released Kevin’s arm, which was just as painful as when it latched on, and whirled around to the redhead, absolutely enraged. 

“Winnie, run!!” Kevin yelled.

But, like him, Winnie was not fast enough.

The dog lunged and sank its teeth into the soft flesh of Winnie’s calf, causing her to cry out in pain. She collapsed to the ground as the dog began jerking its head back and forth, and Kevin got a clear view of the way her skin began to tear along her leg.

“Winnie!!” 

Kevin reached for his skateboard, only to be halted by the unbearable pain in his arm. At the same time, Winnie raised her other foot and kicked the dog in the jaw, making it let go of her leg. 

“Winnie!” Kevin shouted again.

The dog looked at him, mouth dripping with gore, but Winnie grappled onto it before it could lunge at him again. It bit into her arm, wrangledher off, and went for her throat. 

It was horrifying. Absolutely horrifying. Kevin thought for sure that he was about to watch his friend die, but then the dog let out a yowl of pain and he saw that Winnie had stuck her thumbs into its eyes. 

Winnie’s face, usually so soft and timid like a little red fawn, was contorted with rage, eyes alight, teeth bared. She suddenly looked a lot more like a furious red stag with its sharp antlers brandished and primed for blood. 

The hound continued to make ear-piercing whines and squeals that, despite the attack, hurt Kevin’s dog-loving heart to hear. 

“Winnie, that’s enough!” Kevin yelled. “Stop! It’s sorry!”

“How can you fucking tell?” Winnie snapped, and Kevin was shocked at how livid she sounded. He didn’t think he had ever heard her so angry before, let alone swear. “You can’t speak dog! If you could, we wouldn’t even be in this situation!”

“Let it go!”

Winnie glared at him, then pulled her hands back with a gush of blood. The dog instantly bolted back off into the underbrush, whimpering and limping, its tail tucked between its legs. Winnie slumped to the ground, panting heavily.

“You should have let me kill it,” She said, looking up at the grey-blue sky.

“It wasn’t its fault that it attacked,” Kevin said. He couldn’t help playing the devil’s advocate when it came to dogs. “Dogs usually only attack because they’re scared.”

“Well, I attacked because I was scared and now you’re getting mad at me.”

“I’m not mad at you.”

Winnie rolled her head over to look at him, and he could see the bite marks on her neck, angry and red.

“Okay,” She finally said, her eyes flickering back up to the sky. 

“Are you okay?” Kevin asked.

“Yeah,” Winnie answered, even though she was bleeding profusely from three different places. She rolled over fully and dragged herself over to Kevin. He didn’t miss the way she grit her teeth and tears sprang to her eyes when she moved.

She took off the green cardigan she was wearing. “Give me your arm.”

“But you--”

“ _ Give me your arm! _ ” 

Her tone of voice made Kevin jump and he thrust his wounded arm out to her, which instantly throbbed in reaction. He clenched his jaw as she wrapped the cardigan tightly around the bite.

“Thanks,” Kevin said. He looked warily at Winnie’s throat. “Your neck…”

“I’m fine,” Winnie said quickly, running a hand over the marks. “It missed the arteries. I would be dead by now if it hadn’t.”

“That’s…comforting,” Kevin blinked.

Winnie managed a small laugh. “Yeah.” She said. “Can you walk? I don’t think either of us want to pay for an ambulance ride. We can probably make it to the car and drive ourselves to the hospital.”

“Can  _ you  _ walk?”

Winnie glanced at the ripped flesh on her left leg. “We’ll see.”

“I can walk,” Kevin said. “Maybe you can sit on my skateboard and I can pull you?”

Winnie snorted. “My anxiety would  _ never _ . I’d get so embarrassed.”

“You know, you kick ass when you don’t let that get in the way,” Kevin said.

“I wasn’t gonna let it kill you,” Winnie said. She rubbed her thumbs against her other fingers, smearing the dog blood. 

“Thank you,” Kevin said, then slowly rose to his feet. He extended his good hand to Winnie, keeping the other cradled against his chest. “Come on. Let’s get back to the car. Then we can go get our rabies shots!”

Winnie laughed a little. “Sounds good to me.” 

She took his hand and he hauled her to her feet. If Winnie was bothered by the pain in her leg, she didn’t show it at all, probably not wanting to burden Kevin by having her carry him or help her walk. 

Upon getting back to Kevin’s car, they both slumped down into the seats, exhausted.

“God,” Winnie said. “I hate dogs.”

Kevin laughed. “You can say that again.”

“God--”

* * *

** 4 **

**Alyssa**

“Ow! Shit!” 

Alyssa hadn’t meant to yell that loudly, but it hurt like a bitch when her palm was cut. She glared at the offender- a piece of metal sticking out of one of the lockers. She swore some of her skin was still caught on its edge.

“Damnit,” Alyssa hissed as blood began pouring out of the wound. “Shit, shit, shit…”

She pressed her other thumb over the wound, but was only met with mind-buzzing pain. She clenched her jaw tightly.

“Alyssa?”

Suddenly, Winnie was there, and Alyssa almost found herself cursing God because  _ of course _ the painfully anxious carrot top that couldn’t even pee in public would be the only one around.

“Are you okay?” Winnie’s grey eyes shifted to the blood and widened. “Your hand!”

“I’m fine,” Alyssa said. 

“No, you’re not!” Winnie ran over, and Alyssa immediately took a step back, thinking she was about to be trampled. “Your hand is bleeding a lot!”

“I can see that,” Alyssa growled. She wasn’t meaning to be rude, but pain had a tendency to make her more impatient. And Winnie took  _ a lot  _ of patience to deal with. “I’ll be fine.”

“Let me help!”

“Winnie, that’s not--”   
“I’m helping,” Winnie decided, and Alyssa wondered when she got so bold. Was this really the same girl who couldn’t even get up to go get utensils from the cafeteria after forgetting them when she was in line because she thought the lunch ladies would judge her?

“I--” Alyssa was already being nudged towards the bathroom area of the locker room, so she relented. “Okay.”

“Run your hand underneath the water,” Winnie ordered after turning the sink on. “I’ll be right back! Don’t move!” 

She sprinted out of the room, clipping her shoulder on the edge of the bathroom archway and tottering to the side for a moment before yelling, “I’m okay!” and finishing her stride.

“And where am I supposed to go?” Alyssa called after her. “McDonalds?” 

She shook her head and looked down at her hand. Blood and water mixed together in the sink before swirling down the drain. The sheer amount was starting to make her slightly nervous.

A moment later, there was the sound of footsteps and clattering. And something running into something else, followed by a squeaked, “OW!” And then Winnie was there again, holding a first-aid kit.

“I’m back!” Winnie declared, as if she thought Alyssa’s eyes had been damaged. “How’s your hand?”

“Still bleeding,” Alyssa said.

“Yeah, hand wounds do that,” Winnie said, setting the first-aid kit on the space above the sink and opening it up. “It’s because of the vein in your wrist, actually! There’s so much blood flow in that area that it has a lot to spit out. So fun fact!” She ditched the first-aid kit for a moment and ran to the paper towel dispenser, practically pumping out the entire roll. “Okay, give me your hand.”

“I thought you wanted me to run it under water?”

“Well, now I want you to give it to me,” Winnie said. “Please?”

Alyssa gave her her hand. Winnie smiled brightly at her, then pressed the huge wad of paper towels to the cut on her palm. Instantly, pain exploded up Alyssa’s arm.

“OW! YOU BITCH!” Alyssa yelled instinctively.

Winnie flinched back, loosening her grip for a moment, then pressed back with even more force.

“Sorry,” She said. “There needs to be pressure on the wound so the bleeding will stop. I probably should have done that first. Sorry.”

Alyssa sighed. “It’s fine.” She looked down at the paper towels, which were slowly getting redder and redder. “Am I…gonna be okay?”   
“Oh, yeah!” Winnie nodded. “I mean, it may be hard for you to hold things, but that’s about it. I can wrap it up with bandages in the first-aid kit after it stops bleeding and then you’ll be good to go!”

Alyssa nodded. “Got it. Thank you.” 

Winnie gave her a smile. “No problem!” She seemed so happy about being useful.

The two of them stayed like that in the bathroom for a few more minutes, Alyssa standing still and Winnie pressing the paper towels tightly to the wound until the bleeding stopped. When she removed it, they both got a better look at the gash without all the blood fogging it. 

It was a nasty little thing, slashed across the entirety of Alyssa’s palm. Winnie wiped it off with some dry paper towels, then began cleaning it with the antiseptic rags from the first-aid kit.

“You’re pretty good at this,” Alyssa eventually said.

“Oh, yeah,” Winnie shrugged, not looking up at her. “I had to know how to take care of myself. Nobody else was going to do it, you know?”

Alyssa grimaced, but it wasn’t from the pain this time. She looked away awkwardly, swallowing thickly.

“Oh…”

“Yeah…”

A thick silence fell between the two of them. They were both avoiding eye contact with each other, as if they were dogs that had just got caught eating menstrual items out of the bathroom trash can. Neither of them really knew what to say in their situation, and it wasn’t until Winnie was wrapping up Alyssa’s hand with bandages that Alyssa spoke up.

“Thank you again, Winnie.”

Winnie smiled faintly, not really meeting her eyes. “Yeah. No problem.”

* * *

** 5 **

**Emma**

Emma had heard about the dangers of women going to their cars at night, but she never expected it to happen to  _ her.  _ It was just never a thing that crossed her mind. Usually people openly hate crimed her, not waited until it was dark to do it in private. So she never thought to ever check underneath her truck, especially when she was in a school parking lot because she was leaving late after doing something for band.

And yet, a hand reached out from under her truck and grabbed her by the foot.

Emma didn’t have time to react. She didn’t even have time to fully process what had happened before something cold slid across the back of her left ankle and an unbearable pain shot up her leg. There was a loud, elastic popping sound, and then the street rushed up to meet her.

The first thing she saw was the asphalt when she collapsed to the ground, her knees buckling beneath the weight of the agony now rocketing through her muscles. The second thing she saw was the blood gushing out of her left ankle. And the third thing she saw was the horrifying image of some guy crawling out from underneath her truck, knife in hand, smirking bestially.

“What the fuck?!” Emma yelled. She tried to get up, but the excruciating pain in her left leg permitted her from standing. She collapsed right back down to the ground, scraping her elbows and palms against the rough asphalt, and stared up with wide eyes at the guy that now towered over her.

He was her age, gangly and mangy, looking exactly like the person you would expect to find lurking underneath cars to harm women. His eyes were alight with bloodlust and sadism. Emma recognized him as Nate, the school’s local creep. 

“You know, for a fag, you’re pretty hot,” Nate said. “I bet I could fuck you straight.”

“Get away from me!” Emma yelled, scrambling backwards as best as she could with only one working leg.

Nate merely chuckled deeply in return, and the sound sent shivers up Emma’s spine. He reached down for her, and the gleam in his eyes was so strong it was as though a glossy pair of headlights had been hooked up behind them, making them shine glassily from the wide sockets.

He no longer wanted to just stab her.

He wanted to feel a body, weak and defenseless like a little bird’s, pressed beneath his heat. Because that would be just as good as a stabbing in its own way. 

There was more than one reason that the euphemism ‘choking the chicken’ existed, at least for Nate.

But he wasn’t the only one primed for blood.

The only warning that Nate had was the shuffle-thud of uneven steps.

And if Winnie hadn’t been a clumsy idiot, there wouldn’t have been any warning at all.

Eerily enough, there was barely any sound at all as Winnie ploughed straight into Nate, knocking him backwards and directly into one of Emma’s truck’s mirrors, which actually snapped off at the guy’s weight.

Part of it was pure, dumb luck, or at least Emma thought so. Winnie was much smaller than Nate and a hell of a lot lighter. Those two things didn’t provide much, but Nate had been leaning forward, so focused on his prey’s helplessness before him that he hadn’t been prepared for the sudden, unexpected attack of a ginger from the shadows.

But then shock wore off and he swung his knife at Winnie, who was clinging onto him with all of her limbs like some kind of rare breed of red koala. Winnie held firmly onto Nate, then opened her mouth and bit into his shoulder.

“AAAARGH! YOU SON OF A BITCH!!” Nate roared, but Winnie still did not relent. Emma could see red starting to spread across Nate’s white shirt. “LET GO OF ME!”

Winnie replied in a growl that reminded Emma of a dog. Or maybe a very angry red squirrel that just got its nut collection stolen. 

Winnie bit down harder, and Nate screeched in pain. His arms began flailing, hands clawing in an attempt to get the rapid ginger off of him, and he eventually managed to snag her overalls and yank on her until her grip loosened. The moment her grapple failed, he threw her off, and Winnie collided with Emma’s truck so hard the entire vehicle rattled and one of the windows cracked--and then Emma realized the window damage was because Winnie’s head had collided with it and there was blood on the glass.

Winnie slumped to the ground, motionless. A patch of red was growing bigger and bigger against her collarbone, meaning she had been stabbed. There was blood around her mouth, too.

Nate yanked down his shirt sleeve and an entire chunk was missing from his shoulder.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Nate shrieked as blood squirted from the wound. He turned his burning gaze on Emma, who scrambled back a few more inches. “Does she belong to YOU?”

“I’ve never seen that ginger in my life,” Emma sputtered, not wanting to make things worse by associating herself with Winnie.

Nate didn’t buy it.

“You need to put a fucking muzzle on that girl!” Nate yelled. “Do you see what she did to me? My fucking shoulder!”

“You attacked me!”

“Not her! Now I’m going to kill you AND her!”

He didn’t get that chance, however, because Winnie had gotten up and was at his side, and when he turned to attack her, she unhinged her jaw like a snake and clamped her teeth down onto his throat.

Emma had been scared when the knife cut through her Achilles tendon. She had been scared when she hit the ground and when Nate crawled out from under her truck. She had been scared when Nate threatened her and even when he was fighting with Winnie. But she was fucking  _ terrified  _ when she watched Winnie tear into Nate as if she were a rabid dog.

True shock was never something that Emma had been in before. She, for the most part, had lived a relatively calm life that didn’t ever warrant such an adrenaline rush that made her brain become foggy. But when this happened-- god, she expected some kind of screeching violin music to start playing in the background like it did in the horror movies Winnie forced her to watch.

But unlike those movies, this was  _ real. _

Nate’s body went rigid, eyes rolling and bulging hugely in their sockets, mouth hanging open. His knife fell out of his hand and clattered to the floor. He couldn’t even attack back anymore.

Winnie yanked her head back, and Nate’s trachea came out in clinging threads. A squishy sack came with it- the thyroid gland. The larynx tore free next, a thick, dangling tube between Winnie’s teeth, and then blood began spraying onto Winnie’s face- she had bitten through the aorta.

Nate tottered backwards, gargling on his own blood. Blood was squirting out like a high-pressure hose, spattering against the ground and Emma’s truck and even Emma herself. His knees soon buckled and he collapsed, spasming in his last moments of agony.

Winnie turned to Emma slowly, and, underneath the streetlamp, with her mouth dripping in gore, parts of what could have been Nate’s trachea dangling from her lips like a second tongue, face splattered in blood, she looked fucking terrifying.

And then, she was going down to Emma’s side, and Emma found herself flinching away, thinking that Winnie was going to take a bite out of her next. Winnie seemed to notice this because she pulled back with a wounded expression. Then, she turned her head and spit out a wad of flesh, muscle, and organs.

Emma felt sick.

“You killed him,” Emma whispered hoarsely. It was only then that she realized she was shaking.

Winnie glanced at Nate’s body. “Yeah. I guess I did.”

* * *

**+1**

**Winnie**

They don’t.


End file.
